Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord.  "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." 

I searched for weeks prior to Sarah's surgery for the perfect gift.  It finally came to me on a random Google search.  A ring with the scripture above engraved on it.  It was perfect!  Her scoliosis surgery is giving Sarah a future and a hope just as God intends for her to have.  Ironically (or by divine intervention perhaps??), this scripture has appeared in many places since, so it is now referred to as "our scripture".


As long as God, who knows the future, provides our agenda and goes with us as we fulfill his mission, we can have boundless hope.  This does not mean that we will be spared pain, suffering, or hardship, but that God will see us through to a glorious conclusion.


Sarah's surgery was a huge success and a glorious conclusion to a 10 year battle with scoliosis!  We can not be more proud of how brave she was to go through with it.  If I am being honest, I must say that I thought she would back out.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  She was so much braver than her dad and I were.


The surgery itself took 6 1/2 hours.  That was the longest 6 1/2 hours of our lives!  She did great in surgery; although she did lose enough blood right at the end that a blood transfusion was required.  Otherwise, there were no complications at all.  Before surgery, we were told that the doctor would need to fuse the rods down to L3.  This was a huge disappointment because we were counting on no lower than L2.  The lower the rods extend, the less flexibility she would have.  When the surgery was over, the doctor came to talk to Bo and I while Sarah was in recovery.  She happily reported that she only had to fuse to L1.  I've never seen Bo cry so hard (with joy, of course).


She had a 5 day hospital stay.  It was tough getting her pain management under control, which is what extended her stay. The muscle spasms and pain was intolerable most of the time. The change in her anatomy was upsetting because "it doesn't feel right," as she would say. The physical therapist had her walking only 20 hours after surgery, though and was a huge help in her recovery.

Once home, her recovery has been steady. She gets in and out of bed on her own. Dresses herself on her own. Feeds herself on her own. She couldn't do any of this the first day (or even on the 5th day!).

The first picture of the xray below was taken during surgery to assist with the rod placement.  The next picture is a before and after (1 week). As you can see, it's a huge change in her anatomy. My biggest fear in all of this is that she would regret her decision once it was too late to turn back. In the hospital, with all the pain she was experiencing, she said "Mom, I'm already so glad I did this". That was music to my ears.

The time has come.

Gosh, I just don't know where to start. I guess I need to back up several years. Sarah was diagnosed with scoliosis when she was just 7 years old. At that time her spine had an 18 degree curve. The doctors wanted to take the "wait and see" approach, so we did. One year later, her curve had progressed to 28 degrees. 10 degrees in one year is an aggressive progression, so she was braced. Her first brace did nothing and her spine continued to worsen over the years. We tried 2 other types of braces in conjunction with supplements, diet, and therapy for an hour every day for the next several years. Still her curve increased. Surgery has been recommended to her for years, but we always knew that would be a last resort. We have tried every natural way of correction with no avail. In the summer of 2010, she underwent an extremely intensive, week long therapy that gave us some hope. She started the therapy at 65 degrees and ended it at 54!! We were so hopeful that the correction would hold, but to our disappointment, it never did.

The pain has increased over the last year and her lumbar spine is getting stiffer. The x-ray to the left was taken on May 2, 2012. She has returned to having a 65 degree curve. As you can see, she has 2 curves in her spine. The top curve is the main curve of concern. The bottom one is called a compensatory curve. It is simply compensating for the top one.

 At 17 years old, Sarah is mature enough to make her own decisions regarding her treatment. After many months contemplating her course of action, countless sleepless nights, and many tears shed she has made the decision to proceed with surgery.  She will have 2 titanium rods fused to each side of her spine beginning around T4 and ending around L3. The x-ray to the right was taken with traction to show how much correction could potentially be made.  Her body will be tractioned while in surgery to straighten her spine as much as possible allowing the rods to be placed against a straighter spine. We are told that the surgery will improve the main curve to 34 degrees or better and the compensatory curve to 23 degrees.

The surgery will be performed on May 25, 2012 at Emory University Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital in Atlanta. The past 10 years have not been easy on Sarah and we are prayerful that the surgery will improve her adult quality of life.